Tectonic Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ)

Tectonic Advisors LLC boosted its position in Assurant, Inc. (NYSE:AIZ) by 3.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,843 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 98 shares during the period. Tectonic Advisors LLC’s holdings in Assurant were worth $606,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of Assurant by 428.0% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 7,667 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,275,000 after acquiring an additional 6,215 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in Assurant by 10.6% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 14,342 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,384,000 after acquiring an additional 1,369 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Assurant in the second quarter valued at $475,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Assurant by 18.2% during the 3rd quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 5,081 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,010,000 after purchasing an additional 781 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in shares of Assurant by 47.3% in the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 13,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,724,000 after purchasing an additional 4,400 shares in the last quarter. 92.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Assurant news, EVP Biju Nair sold 3,000 shares of Assurant stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.18, for a total value of $627,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 20,658 shares in the company, valued at $4,321,240.44. The trade was a 12.68 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AIZ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Bank of America raised their price objective on Assurant from $228.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley began coverage on shares of Assurant in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $251.00 price objective on the stock. Truist Financial raised their target price on shares of Assurant from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Assurant from $194.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Assurant from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $229.50.

Assurant Trading Up 1.3 %

AIZ opened at $214.87 on Thursday. Assurant, Inc. has a 12-month low of $160.12 and a 12-month high of $230.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.42 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.02 billion, a PE ratio of 15.33 and a beta of 0.62. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $214.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $200.92.

Assurant (NYSE:AIZ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $3.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.52 by $0.48. Assurant had a return on equity of 17.42% and a net margin of 6.31%. The firm had revenue of $2.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $4.29 earnings per share. Assurant’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Assurant, Inc. will post 15.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Assurant Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. Assurant’s dividend payout ratio is currently 22.82%.

About Assurant

Assurant, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides business services that supports, protects, and connects consumer purchases in North America, Latin America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates through two segments: Global Lifestyle and Global Housing. The Global Lifestyle segment offers mobile device solutions, and extended service contracts and related services for consumer electronics and appliances, and credit and other insurance products; and vehicle protection, commercial equipment, and other related services.